Chapter 94

The Holy Maiden opened her eyes, her gaze blank, her face filled with the three questions: Who am I? Where am I? What did I just do?

The instant the Holy Maiden awoke, Wu Chang's true self reacted, turning to look at her.

It wasn't that he had been staring at her, waiting for her to awaken; rather, at the very moment she woke, a hidden side quest completion notification popped up before his eyes.

"Player has completed hidden side quest: Find the Missing Holy Maiden or Recover the Holy Scar."

"Player has received hidden side quest reward: Holy Light Rebirth Amulet."

With the completion of the hidden side quest, the letter handwritten by the Mandazhu Sect's Archbishop in Wu Chang's personal inventory transformed into a slender silver chain, hanging a silver amulet shaped like the sun.

"Item Name: Holy Light Rebirth Amulet."

"Item Rank: C"

"Item Skill: Holy Light Amulet"

"Skill Description: Equipping the Holy Light Rebirth Amulet increases Will attribute cap by 5 points and grants one layer of Holy Light Shield, which blocks one negative status effect."

"Item Skill: Holy Light Rebirth"

"Skill Description: Consuming this item allows you to fuse one Holy Light–attribute special item into a designated item, reforging the designated item into a brand-new one. The new item inherits the original item's attributes and skills, and gains additional Holy Light enhancements."

"Note: If the original item's rank is below C, the fused item's rank rises to C; if equal to C, there is a small chance it rises to B; if above C, the original item's rank remains unchanged."

Wu Chang was very satisfied with the hidden side quest reward—he currently lacked not item quantity, but quality.

Especially the Silver Dawn he had been using all along.

As a "founding veteran," he had deep affection for this gun, but unfortunately, it was about to become obsolete.

After clearing the Quiet Town, given the Abyss Game's attitude toward him, he would likely face a B-rank instance dungeon.

A D-rank item struggled to make an impact in a B-rank instance dungeon.

At the Moonlight Sanatorium, even a point-blank headshot against Gidton, who offered no defense, failed to kill him instantly.

Facing Charles Mr., who was about to shed his doctor's uniform, the Silver Dawn's base performance could do nothing but make him feel better—it couldn't wound him fundamentally.

The appearance of the Holy Light Rebirth Amulet solved this problem perfectly.

All he needed was one more suitable Holy Light–attribute special item to reforge the Silver Dawn.

Such special items should be plentiful in the cathedral or the Earl's manor—he'd search thoroughly before leaving and surely find something.

He tucked away the amulet and gazed at the half-asleep Holy Maiden. "You're awake?"

"Who are you?" The Holy Maiden tilted her head slightly, puzzled, at the stranger wrapped entirely in black robes.

Faced with the dazed Holy Maiden, Wu Chang couldn't help but give a thumbs-up—adorableness level: max!

"Have you ever heard of a secret organization within the Church called the Arcane Knights?"

The Holy Maiden shook her head. "No."

Good—she hadn't heard of it; otherwise, I'd have to make up a new one.

Wu Chang nodded. "The Arcane Knights are an organization established specifically to deal with heretics. Whenever the Church encounters problems it cannot solve—or must not handle directly—it calls upon the Arcane Knights."

This was true—even a lie detector couldn't detect a single falsehood.

After all, he hadn't specified which plane's Church.

The Holy Maiden nodded slowly. "So you're a member of the Arcane Knights?"

Wu Chang nodded.

He liked this—character-driven imagination always felt more authentic than his own explanations.

"Not long ago, I received a request from Archbishop Gilman to come to Briver Island and find the missing Holy Maiden."

Wu Chang pointed to the Holy Maiden's chest, where the "Blessing of the Great Mother" hung. "He gave me this chain as a guide to locate you."

The Holy Maiden touched the "Blessing of the Great Mother" around her neck—this chain had been a divine gift, bestowed by the Pope through a miracle, requested from the Great Mother on the day of her coming-of-age ceremony.

The aura on it was familiar to her—undoubtedly genuine.

She had left this chain behind in the Church before departing, entrusted to the Church's high-ranking officials. The fact that this stranger held it made his identity far more credible.

"Knight, how should I address you?"

"You may call me Saisco."

"What a strange name."

"If it's too hard to pronounce, I have a shorter version: Six."

"That's better."

Wu Chang turned the question back. "What's your name? I can't keep calling you Holy Maiden."

The Holy Maiden felt no offense at Wu Chang's request and replied generously: "Eileen Dana. You may call me Eileen."

Wu Chang steered the topic back. "Eileen, do you remember what happened on the island before?"

Eileen stared at the ceiling for a moment, then shook her head. "I don't remember. Something bad happened, but it's all over now." Though Eileen's innocent expression was lovely, Wu Chang had to shatter it for the sake of uncovering the plot.

"When the chain led me to you, you were already charred beyond recognition—I dug you out from a human-shaped lump of charcoal."

Eileen gasped. "So I really died once?"

"You're not surprised by your resurrection?" Wu Chang was startled.

"Because I'm just a spirit now," Eileen said, floating lightly into the air. She reached out and touched the wall—half her arm sank straight through it.

Now it was Wu Chang's turn to fall silent. He frowned. "Then why didn't you ask me what happened? Don't you care that someone killed you?"

"Death is merely an extension of life. While alive, I spread the Lord's light; after death, my soul returns to Heaven, blessing the faithful below. Life and death are both the Lord's design—why should I grieve over them?"

Eileen's tone was utterly calm, her pale blue eyes as clear and still as a lake.

She spoke as if discussing tonight's dinner, not her own life and death.

Wu Chang stepped closer to Eileen, studying her closely.

This woman is off.

!

Even an ascetic like the bishop of Brifu Cathedral could not possibly be so indifferent to life and death.

Even zealots, when facing the fear of death, need fervent faith to counterbalance it — they would not be so flat.

Eileen 's flatness seemed more like she simply could not generate negative emotions at all.

Wu Chang bent a finger and flicked Eileen on the forehead.

Eileen covered her head and asked, puzzled, "What are you doing?"

Wu Chang could clearly see that Eileen had not even produced a hint of displeasure.

Further testing was necessary.

He took a Golden Flying Fish from his随身 space and used its tail to lightly slap Eileen 's face.

The fish scales on Eileen 's body proved she had already eaten Golden Flying Fish, and more than one — theoretically she should already be hooked, and her reaction to seeing one should be about the same as Matty 's.

Once the craving kicked in, she would even give up her bank card PIN if asked.

But Eileen showed little reaction to the Golden Flying Fish, only shifting back in distaste to avoid its slaps.

"That joke isn't funny. I won't get angry, but if you keep it up I will retaliate."

Sure enough, Eileen would not get angry — even her aversion was laced with restraint.

Wu Chang immediately switched faces and said, with great solemnity, "I'm not joking. This is a very serious test of whether you'll react to this fish."

"You should have noticed by now that you've grown some fish scales. The Golden Flying Fish is a specialty of Brifu Island — anyone who eats it grows special scales. You ate this fish before you died, and more than one."

Eileen froze for a moment; only when Wu Chang mentioned it did she notice the changes in her body.

She turned around for a quick check, then turned back and said, "Mr. Knight, my apologies — I misunderstood you."

Wu Chang gave a light snort. "Good that you know."

He put away the Golden Flying Fish, but his expression darkened.

He could now confirm that Eileen truly had a problem — she had no negative emotions, not even any of the seven deadly sins that belonged to humans.

If the Faceless Nun趴在 the Earl 's manor main house was an empty shell, then Eileen was like the wrapping paper outside that shell.

Only all the pretty things were left; whatever inside could be hollowed out had already been completely scooped away.

He took out the Proof of Lust in his hand, wondering whether stuffing the special item representing the seven deadly sins into Eileen 's body would let her recover the emotions that belonged to the sins.

But after thinking it over, he did not do it.

There was only one quest item. If Eileen really fused with the Proof of Sin, then when they entered the Earl 's manor, what would they use to fill that giant faceless nun?

Use Eileen?

It wasn't out of the question.

Wu Chang shook his head and tossed the tempting thought out of his mind.

The Quiet Town dungeon seemed to work such that the more secrets you cracked, the more new secrets came out.

Setting aside the super-model Seeing Chiyuan, he felt that the 年年平安 on the verge of going out of control was not as difficult as this ordinary dungeon of the same level.

Wu Chang 's True Self side kept chatting Eileen up, gathering more intel on the Church and Earl Germain.

Wu Chang 's main body, meanwhile, returned to the post office and did not go to Mo Leina 's house to keep waiting for her.

The night passed quickly. The next day, just as the sky brightened, before Wu Chang had even gotten out of bed, he heard a flurry of urgent knocking at the door.

He opened it and found a girl in a nurse 's uniform standing outside.

"Councilor Xiao En, please come with me. Professor Ebert is failing fast — he wishes to see you once before he dies."

(End of chapter)